Fiction Fragment Fridays: Chrono Trigger Timeless (Trial)

During one National Novel Writing Month I decided to be a “rebel” and write fan fiction. That fan fiction was another novelization like my Final Fantasy piece, but this time based on another super-popular Square game: Chrono Trigger. I barely made it a third of the way through the storyline before NaNoWriMo was over and I moved back on to other things, but I fully intend on returning to this project once I’ve finished the Final Fantasy novels.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a scene from what was always one of my favorite parts of the game: Chrono’s trial. Enjoy!

“Members of the court!” called out the judge with a strong voice, “We present to you the defendant, Chrono, who is charged with abducting Princess Nadia.”

The chancellor barely let the judge finish his sentence before stepping forward and approaching the jury. “What shall we do with him?” he asked casually, as though asking them what they would like to have for lunch, “Fire perhaps? Hang him upside-down for a few years? Or…shall we employ the guillotine?”

Chrono’s body temperature rose substantially as the chancellor spoke. Was this man serious?! He hadn’t even done anything, and they were talking about executing him?! He couldn’t help feeling faint, and found himself struggling to continue to stand up straight.

“You, the jury, shall decide his fate,” the chancellor had continued, “Now, let us begin!”

“Chrono!” bellowed the judge. Chrono jumped nervously, sweat pouring down his face, and looked up to the judge, unable to so much as open his mouth. Thankfully, the judge continued speaking. “You are hereby ordered to tell the truth! Do you understand?”

Chrono opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally simply nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak.

When the judge was satisfied, Pierre took a deep breath and stepped forward. Unlike the chancellor, he spoke to the entire crowd rather than directly to the jury. “Chrono is charged with Premeditated Abduction of Royalty,” he announced, injecting a tone of mocking disbelief into his voice. “The question we must ask ourselves is, did he actually kidnap Princess Nadia?” The chancellor glared venomously as Pierre smiled kindly to the crowd. “The answer?” he continued, “No, he did not. I submit that no abduction actually took place, and that the two met completely by accident!” Here he walked up to Chrono and placed a hand on the stand. “Chrono, please tell the court…had you ever met the Princess before?”

Chrono’s mouth was dry, but he managed to cough out a response. “N-no…I’d never met her before. We ran into each other at the fair for the first time ever.”

Pierre opened his mouth to speak again, but the chancellor interrupted, stomping angrily toward them. “Chrono!” he practically shouted, “Do you mean to tell me that you had no idea who the Princess was?”

“No!” Chrono insisted weakly, “I’d never met her! And I had no idea she was the Princess! She told me her name was Marle!”

“And yet!” the chancellor shouted, making Chrono (and probably half the crowd) wish that he had earplugs, “She then followed you to a local inventor’s little sideshow, whereupon you both disappeared for more than a twelve hour period! If that wasn’t criminal abduction, I don’t know what is!” His smile was cruel. “And I have facts that throw the defendant’s character into question!”

This time it was Pierre, rather than Chrono, who flustered considerably. “Objection!” he shouted in alarm, “This can’t have any relevance whatsoever to this case!”

There was a flurry of noise as the crowd considered this amongst themselves.

The judge looked amused. “Care to respond, chancellor?”

The chancellor gave a little bow toward the judge, the cruel smile still on his face, and gestured toward the jury. “Chrono’s character is at the very core of this case!” he insisted loudly.

Pierre jumped in before the chancellor could get onto a roll. “We have nothing to hide!” he said with conviction.

Nicely done! At first I thought you might keep Chrono silent throughout the whole scene, which would probably cause more trouble than it was worth. Even still, I think you nailed the sequence from the game.

Thanks so much! I’m glad you liked it! When I originally decided to try this project I though about keeping Chrono silent, but in addition to being incredibly difficult to write I thought it would be annoying to read. Thus I decided to give Chrono a voice at least. lol

I’ve played this game so many times, you have no idea…my best friend and I used to have this tradition where we’d try to beat the game (with no new game +) every Christmas Eve as a way to keep ourselves occupied. lol